U.S. patent number 4,817,306 [Application Number 07/131,234] was granted by the patent office on 1989-04-04 for footwear article with attached carrying bag.
Invention is credited to Earl F. Bayer.
United States Patent |
4,817,306 |
Bayer |
April 4, 1989 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Footwear article with attached carrying bag
Abstract
A shoe includes a storage pocket and a carrying bag either
permanently or detachably attached to the shoe such that the
carrying bag can be stored in the storage pocket when not in use
or, when needed, can be extended away from the storage pocket and
then turned inside out so that the shoe will be contained therein.
The carrying bag is made of flexible material and is large enough
to carry a companion shoe. The carrying bag can include a tie cord
to close the mouth thereof when desired.
Inventors: |
Bayer; Earl F. (Somerset,
NJ) |
Family
ID: |
26714899 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/131,234 |
Filed: |
December 7, 1987 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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38140 |
Apr 14, 1987 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
36/136; 2/247;
224/586; 36/1; 36/132; D3/233 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A43B
3/0031 (20130101); A43B 23/00 (20130101); A43B
3/248 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A43B
23/00 (20060101); A43B 023/00 (); A41D
027/20 () |
Field of
Search: |
;36/136,132,7.1R ;2/247
;224/224,151 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Levy; Stuart S.
Assistant Examiner: Hannon; Thomas R.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Watson, Cole, Grindle &
Watson
Parent Case Text
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present application is a continuation-in-part of application
Ser. No. 038,140, filed Apr. 14, 1987, now abandoned.
Claims
I claim:
1. A footwear article with attached carrying bag which comprises an
upper, means attached to said footwear article to provide a storage
pocket, a carrying bag, and connection means attaching said
carrying bag to said footwear article such that said carrying bag
can be sufficiently large that, when extended away from said pocket
chamber and turned inside out, it will contain the footwear article
to which it is attached and a companion footwear article yet can be
folded into, a compact unit and stored with said storage pocket
when not in use.
2. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 1, wherein said means attached to said upper to provide a
storage pocket comprises a liner fabric attached within said
upper.
3. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 2, wherein said carrying bag is attached to said linear
fabric.
4. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 3, including closure means for opening and closing said
storage pocket.
5. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 4, wherein said closure means comprises a zipper.
6. A footwear article with carrying bag as defined in claim 4,
wherein said liner fabric is located at the rear portion of said
upper.
7. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 1, wherein said carrying bag is made of a flexible
material.
8. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in clam
7, wherein said flexible material is nylon.
9. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 1, wherein said connection means is constructed such that
said carrying bag can be detached from said footwear article
without damage to the connection means and said connection means
can be used to subsequently attach said carrying bag to said
footwear article.
10. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 9, wherein said connection means comprises a flap which is
permanently attached at one end to said carrying bag and which has
a plurality of protruding, hook-shaped, unitary filaments at its
second end, and a pad which is permanently attached to said
footwear article, said pad also including a plurality of
protruding, hook-shaped, unitary filaments, the filaments on said
flap being engageable with the filaments on said flap being
engageable with the filaments on said pad.
11. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 9, wherein said connection means comprises a flap which is
permanently attached at one end to said carrying bag and which
includes a snap fastener stud element at its second end, and a pad
which is permanently attached to said footwear article and which
includes a snap fastener base element, said snap fastener stud
element being engageable with said snap fastener base element.
12. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 1, wherein said connection means is constructed such that
forced separation of said carrying bag and said footwear article
will cause damage to said connection means.
13. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 12, wherein said connection means comprises threads sewn
between said carrying bag and said footwear article.
14. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 14, wherein said carrying bag defines a mouth, and wherein
said carrying bag includes additional closure means at said mouth
to close said carrying bag.
15. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 14, wherein a portion of said carrying bag at said mouth is
folded over to provide a peripheral channel that extends around
most of the periphery of said mouth, and wherein said additional
closure means comprises a tie cord which extends through said
peripheral channel.
16. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 12, wherein said footwear article includes a sole.
17. A footwear article with attached carrying bag as defined in
claim 16, wherein said footwear article is a sports shoe.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Almost everyone has at one time or another found it necessary to
carry articles of footwear from one place to another. For example,
golfers will frequently carry a pair of golf shoes to the golf
course so as to change into them prior to commencing play. Bowlers
will frequently carry a pair of bowling shoes to the bowling alley
to use during play. Children will frequently carry slippers to a
slumber party. Large numbers of office workers who carry their
dress shoes to work (while wearing casual shoes or boots during
their commute) carry athletic shoes to work for jogging purposes
during lunch time. However, carrying such footwear articles is
rather awkward (it is hard to carry a pair of shoes individually or
by their tied shoe laces) and unattractive. And a carrying bag for
the footwear articles may not be readily available, or if
available, may be too large or too small.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Recognizing the need to provide a readily available carrying bag
for people who wish to carry one or more footwear articles from one
place to another, I have developed the present invention.
My invention comprises a footwear article such as a sports shoe, a
dress shoe, a slipper, a boot, etc., which includes a storage
pocket, and which also includes a flexible carrying bag attached
thereto such that it can be stored in the storage pocket. When
referring to sports shoe, I mean any type of athletic shoe such as
a sneaker, a golf shoe, a roller skate, a jogging shoe, etc.
Footwear articles which include storage pockets or chambers for
storing accessory items are, in and of themselves, known. For
example, shoes having storage pockets at the rear ends of their
uppers are known (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,742,715), shoes having
storage pockets along their side or in their tongues are known (see
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,644,673, 4,638,579, 4,630,383, 4,612,714 and
4,280,287), and high heel shoes having storage compartments in
their heels are known (see U.S. Pat. No. 3,325,918). Storage
pockets formed in other ways are also known (see U.S. Pat. Nos.
4,547,982, 4,507,882, 3,631,613 and 3,018,570). However, no
footwear article is known which includes a storage pocket and a
carrying bag for the footwear article, the carrying bag being
attached to the footwear article and storable within the storage
pocket.
My invention will now be better understood by reference to the
accompanying drawings, taken in conjunction with the following
discussion.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
In the drawings,
FIG. 1 shows a side elevational view of a footwear article with
attached carrying bag in accordance with a preferred embodiment of
the present invention, the carrying bag being stored in a storage
pocket of the footwear article and thus not observable,
FIG. 2 shows a rear elevational view of the preferred footwear
article with attached carrying bag shown in FIG. 1,
FIG. 3 shows a cross sectional view of the rear portion of the
preferred footwear article with attached carrying bag as seen along
line 3--3 in FIG. 2,
FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of the rear portion of the
preferred footwear article with attached carrying bag, the carrying
bag being shown extending outwardly from the storage pocket of the
footwear article,
FIG. 5 shows, on a reduced scale, a partially broken away side view
of the preferred footwear article with attached carrying bag, the
footwear article being shown located within the attached carrying
bag, which is in an inside out condition as compared to FIG. 4,
and
FIG. 6 shows, on an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 5, a side
view of the preferred footwear article with attached carrying bag
wherein both the footwear article and a companion footwear article
are contained within the attached carrying bag and the mouth of the
attached carrying bag is closed, and
FIGS. 7 and 8 show partial perspective views of footwear articles
with attached carrying bags in accordance with further embodiments
of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
FIGS. 1-6 depict a preferred embodiment of a footwear article with
attached carrying bag according to the present invention. It
includes a sports shoe 10 formed of an upper 11 and a bottom sole
19. A liner fabric 12 is attached inside the rear portion of the
upper 11 so as to form a storage pocket 13 in the shoe, and a
closure means in the form of a zipper closure 14 is formed in the
rear end of the upper to provide access to the storage pocket 13. A
carrying bag 20, which is made out of a flexible material and has a
mouth end 20a, a main portion 20b and a bottom end 20c, is attached
at its bottom end 20c to the liner fabric 12 by connection means
15. The portion of the bag at its mouth end 20a is folded over
around most of its periphery and attached to the main portion 20b
to provide a peripheral channel 21. A tie cord 22 extends through
the peripheral channel 21 so as to close the mouth of the carrying
bag when desired. The connection means 15 which permanently
connects the carrying bag to the shoe, is in the form of threads
sewn between the bottom portion 20c of the carrying bag 20 and the
liner fabric 12.
As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the carrying bag 20 can be folded into a
sufficiently compact unit that it can completely fit within the
storage pocket 13, thereby allowing the zipper closure 14 to be
closed. This represents the non-use condition of the carrying bag.
When the carrying bag is to be used, i.e., to carry the sports shoe
10 to which it is attached, the zipper closure 14 is opened and the
carrying bag 20 is manually extended outwardly from the storage
pocket 13, i.e., as shown in FIG. 4. The carrying bag 20 will not
become separated from the sports shoe 10 due to the permanent
attachment of its bottom portion 20c to the liner fabric 12 by the
connection means 15. The carrying bag is then converted to an
inside out condition, and in the process the sports shoe 10 will
become contained therein, i.e., as shown in FIG. 5. Finally, the
mouth of the carrying bag is compressed, i.e., as indicated in FIG.
6, such that the tie cord 22 can be knotted to close the mouth of
the carrying bag. The carrying bag is made large enough that, if
desired, a companion shoe 30 can also be placed within and carried
by the carrying bag. The flexible material of which the carrying
bag is made can include nylon, cotton, polyester, etc.
As noted above, the inventive footwear article with attached
carrying bag shown in FIGS. 1-6 includes a connection means 15
which acts to permanently attach the carrying bag to the footwear
article. As such, forced separation of the carrying ba from the
footwear article will result in damage to the connection means. An
alternative connection means of this type is bonding glue. However,
the invention also contemplates the use of a connection means which
will allow the carrying bag to be detached from the footwear
article without damage to the connection means, the connection
means being means subsequently reusable to reattach the carrying
bag to the footwear article. Embodiments of the inventive carrying
bag with footwear article having such a connection means are shown
in FIGS. 7 and 8. In FIG. 7 the connection means comprises a flap
15a and a pad 15b, the flap 15a being permanently attached at one
end to the bottom of the carrying bag and including numerous
protruding, hooked-shaped unitary filaments at its other end (e.g.
Velcro.RTM.-type filaments) and pad 15b being permanently attached
around its periphery to the liner fabric in the shoe and including
numerous protruding, hooked-shaped unitary filaments (e.g. a
Velcro.RTM. pad). The filaments on the flap 15a and pad 15b can be
randomly engaged to attach the carrying bag to the shoe or
disengaged to separate the carrying bag from the shoe. In FIG. 8
the connection means comprises a flap 15c and a pad 15d, the flap
15c being permanently attached at one end to the bottom of the
carrying bag and including a snap fastener stud element 15e at its
other end and pad 15d being permanently attached around its
periphery to the liner fabric in the shoe and including a snap
fastener base element 15f thereon. The snap fastener stud element
15e can be snap fit within the snap fastener base element 15f to
attach the carrying bag to the shoe or disengaged therefrom to
separate the carrying bag from the shoe. An alternate connection
means of this type can be a zipper fastener wherein the two
portions of the zipper are separable from one another at their
corresponding ends.
Obviously, many variations in the preferred inventive embodiments
as described above could be made and still fall within the scope of
the present invention. For example, the footwear article, instead
of being a sports shoe, could be instead a dress shoe, a casual
shoe, a slipper, a boot, etc. Furthermore the storage pocket need
not be located at the rear portion of the upper, but can be located
at other places on the footwear article, e.g., on one of its sides,
at its toe, beneath its tongue, etc.
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